I think it's great that my TV/film criticism class includes several readings on entertainment from a Marxist perspective. Really.
According to the essay I'm reading right now, the male characters on shows like "The A-Team" and "Magnum, P.I." "can be seen as literally embodying patriarchal capitalism," and the lack of female main characters in these shows "represents the suppression and devaluation of feminine characteristics in patriarchal constructions of masculinity."
Here's another fun excerpt:
The penis is the natural sign of maleness; the phallus is the cultural sign of masculinity -- the totality of meanings, rights, and power that a culture ascribes to maleness. Hence these shows, in their role as "masculine definers," are full of phallic symbols, particularly guns as agents of male power (think how rare it is for a female on TV to use a gun successfully, particularly to kill a male).
Clearly, this essay was written before "24" existed.
I have to take a test on this bullshit in a couple days...
Posted by CD on November 29, 2005 05:51 PM | TrackBackCome on, CD, obviously a woman handling a gun is clearly a freudian symbol. I mean, a woman handling a phallus is only natural. That's why Chloe was able to whup the shite out of the guys in the Suburban last season even though she's not field op. Her experience as a female gave her that instinctual knowledge of how to maipulate the CAR-15.
and the only tv i watch is 24, oddly enough.
And yes, it HAS been a long time, thanks for asking.
:-D
Posted by: tommy at November 29, 2005 09:42 PM